Metaphor: ReFantazio's fantasy election adapts Persona's social gameplay

Atlus has released a new video with the developers of its forthcoming game Metaphor: ReFantazio, providing new details on how it adapts gameplay ideas from the Persona series.

The game's narrative will focus on a sort of fantasy election, for which the protagonist must travel the world and gather support to become king but with limited time.

A fresh story trailer for the game was revealed at last week's The Game Awards, you can check it out below.

Metaphor: ReFantazio takes place in the United Kingdom of Euchronia following the assassination of its king. What follows is a political tournament to determine the next ruler, which anyone can enter.

This will be combined with the element of travel, a "critical element in a fantasy" according to director Katsura Hashino. And where school life is like a journey with a set end, Metaphor will work similarly. The time allotted for travel is limited, meaning players will need to prioritise en route and decide their own strategy and order.

"By framing this election as a travel experience, something we've experienced in modern times, those in the running are faced with the need to travel around the country within a set amount of time," said Hashino.

"I think one of the main attractions of this game is that it takes the good part of the Persona series to date, which progressed on a schedule, and adapts it in a way that perfectly matches the storyline for this work and the travel system we've created."

Travel itself will take place on machines called Gauntlet Runners, which look like ships with giant legs. These have been designed by Ikuto Yamashita, famous for his work on Neon Genesis Evangelion. Background artwork, meanwhile, has been designed by Koda Kazuma (NieR: Automata).

Another twist on Persona is Metaphor's magic system. In this world, people are born with heroic aspects which awaken when inspired by others. It's this that allows the game's main characters to transform into weapons based on these heroic aspects, known as Archetypes.

Battles will be both turn-based and real-time, with players able to choose how they approach enemies. Weaker enemies can be dispatched swiftly in real-time, for instance, while more difficult enemies must be encountered through the command system.

Atlus also shared a statement on the game in Japanese, which NoisyPixel has translated.

It states that Metaphor is a "commemorative title that marks the culmination of Atlus' policy of 'originality and empathy' through the fantasy RPG genre, and is not simply a nostalgic return to the roots of the past".

Further, the central message of the game is: "If you stand still in fear of uncertainty, you will never be able to move forward".

Metaphor: ReFantazio was first announced at the Xbox Games Showcase in June, though it's set for release in 2024 on PC and PlayStation consoles too.